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Bomb Suspects' Uncle Gets 'Love Mail' for Speaking Out
Bloomberg.com
Apr 24, 2013
By Margaret Talev
Ruslan Tsarni called out to his wife for the letters. Zalina, he said,
bring the box.
Since Tsarni stood outside his suburban Maryland home on April 19
before a scrum of journalists and apologized to the victims of the
Boston Marathon bombings on behalf of his suspect-nephews, calling
them `losers,' Americans have been writing in from across the country
to offer their support to him, his wife and their six children.
`You may get `hate mail,' so please consider this `love mail,'' wrote
one person from Colorado Springs, Colorado, in a letter that Tsarni
showed a reporter yesterday. `Thank you for your courage in coming
forward.'
For Tsarni, the national tragedy of the bombings that killed three
people and wounded more than 260 on April 15 has become the personal
nadir in a years-long estrangement with his nephews Tamerlan and
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and their parents.
Tsarni's own emotions have taken a roller-coaster of guilt and anger,
he said in an interview, fueled by the family's failure to recognize
that Tamerlan's interest in Islam over the past six years may have
crossed into violent radicalism.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was killed in a confrontation with police
chasing the brothers in Watertown, Massachusetts, last week. Dzhokar,
19, accused of using weapons of mass destruction in the Boston
bombing, is recovering from wounds in a Boston hospital as authorities
probe the brothers' motives.
Last week, Tsarni told reporters outside his home asking for motives
that the brothers are `losers not being able to settle themselves and
thereby just hating everybody who did.'
Ruslan Tsarni's estrangement with his brother Anzor's family began
because of tensions between him and Anzor's wife, Zubeidat Tsarnaev,
he said, describing her as overbearing and meddlesome in her
children's lives in a dangerous way.
Stirred Shame
Since his nephews emerged as the suspects in the attack, Tsarni said,
he has thought often about his efforts to bring and maintain family
members in the U.S., as well as a failed attempt to encourage Tamerlan
to move to Kazakhstan in 2008.
The correspondence he has received from the American public affirmed
the love for the U.S. that he professed during his impromptu media
appearance last week, he said, and eased some of the shame stirred by
a national manhunt for his nephews.
One letter, scratched out in pencil on lined paper, was signed `Emma,'
describing herself as a 19-year-old from New Jersey, a non-practicing
Christian who felt a sense of compassion for the ethnic Chechens.
`I wish the best for you and your family,' she wrote. `You are
victims of this mass tragedy as well. Stay strong, ignore the
misconceptions and ignorance.'
Financial Assistance
Tsarni, who describes himself as a business consultant, says he first
came to the U.S. in 1995. He grew up in Tokmak, Kyrgyzstan, and
graduated from the Law School of Kyrgyz State University in 1994, he
said in a witness statement in a British lawsuit involving a past
business associate in the former Soviet Republic south of
Kazakhstan. Returning to the U.S. in 2008, he said in his statement,
he had become a U.S. citizen and was a legal consultant to a
U.S. company contracted under USAID in a program of economic
assistance for Kysrgyzstan.
His mother, in her 70s, lives in Kyrgyzstan, he says. In the living
room of Tsarnis' large home that sits on a quiet cul-de-sac about 30
miles from Washington, family photos adorn the walls. The couple's
4-year-old son is glued to a big-screen television, oblivious to his
father's interview with a reporter. Zalina serves a reporter hot tea
in a clear glass cup.
At her husband's request, she fetches a brown stationery box, kneels
on the rug and spreads a stack of letters on the dark leather
ottoman. She counts the envelopes -- 21 letters have arrived within
the four days after her husband's impromptu nationally televised press
conference.
His older children, girls ages 10, 12 and 13, have read every letter
that's arrived, Tsarni said.
`Their Lives'
`I made them read them -- these letters -- so they understand who they
live among,' he said of the spirit of generosity reflected in the
mail. `I said, `One day we'll respond to each of these letters.''
His children, he said, `are going to live with this for their lives.'
Tsarni believes he will have an opportunity at some point to speak
with the surviving nephew, Dzhokhar, facing federal changes that could
result in the death penalty if convicted.
`When I have the chance to meet with Dzhokhar, I will show him these
letters,' Tsarni said. `All of them.'
To contact the reporter on this story: Margaret Talev in Washington at
[email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at
[email protected]
Bloomberg.com
Apr 24, 2013
By Margaret Talev
Ruslan Tsarni called out to his wife for the letters. Zalina, he said,
bring the box.
Since Tsarni stood outside his suburban Maryland home on April 19
before a scrum of journalists and apologized to the victims of the
Boston Marathon bombings on behalf of his suspect-nephews, calling
them `losers,' Americans have been writing in from across the country
to offer their support to him, his wife and their six children.
`You may get `hate mail,' so please consider this `love mail,'' wrote
one person from Colorado Springs, Colorado, in a letter that Tsarni
showed a reporter yesterday. `Thank you for your courage in coming
forward.'
For Tsarni, the national tragedy of the bombings that killed three
people and wounded more than 260 on April 15 has become the personal
nadir in a years-long estrangement with his nephews Tamerlan and
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and their parents.
Tsarni's own emotions have taken a roller-coaster of guilt and anger,
he said in an interview, fueled by the family's failure to recognize
that Tamerlan's interest in Islam over the past six years may have
crossed into violent radicalism.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was killed in a confrontation with police
chasing the brothers in Watertown, Massachusetts, last week. Dzhokar,
19, accused of using weapons of mass destruction in the Boston
bombing, is recovering from wounds in a Boston hospital as authorities
probe the brothers' motives.
Last week, Tsarni told reporters outside his home asking for motives
that the brothers are `losers not being able to settle themselves and
thereby just hating everybody who did.'
Ruslan Tsarni's estrangement with his brother Anzor's family began
because of tensions between him and Anzor's wife, Zubeidat Tsarnaev,
he said, describing her as overbearing and meddlesome in her
children's lives in a dangerous way.
Stirred Shame
Since his nephews emerged as the suspects in the attack, Tsarni said,
he has thought often about his efforts to bring and maintain family
members in the U.S., as well as a failed attempt to encourage Tamerlan
to move to Kazakhstan in 2008.
The correspondence he has received from the American public affirmed
the love for the U.S. that he professed during his impromptu media
appearance last week, he said, and eased some of the shame stirred by
a national manhunt for his nephews.
One letter, scratched out in pencil on lined paper, was signed `Emma,'
describing herself as a 19-year-old from New Jersey, a non-practicing
Christian who felt a sense of compassion for the ethnic Chechens.
`I wish the best for you and your family,' she wrote. `You are
victims of this mass tragedy as well. Stay strong, ignore the
misconceptions and ignorance.'
Financial Assistance
Tsarni, who describes himself as a business consultant, says he first
came to the U.S. in 1995. He grew up in Tokmak, Kyrgyzstan, and
graduated from the Law School of Kyrgyz State University in 1994, he
said in a witness statement in a British lawsuit involving a past
business associate in the former Soviet Republic south of
Kazakhstan. Returning to the U.S. in 2008, he said in his statement,
he had become a U.S. citizen and was a legal consultant to a
U.S. company contracted under USAID in a program of economic
assistance for Kysrgyzstan.
His mother, in her 70s, lives in Kyrgyzstan, he says. In the living
room of Tsarnis' large home that sits on a quiet cul-de-sac about 30
miles from Washington, family photos adorn the walls. The couple's
4-year-old son is glued to a big-screen television, oblivious to his
father's interview with a reporter. Zalina serves a reporter hot tea
in a clear glass cup.
At her husband's request, she fetches a brown stationery box, kneels
on the rug and spreads a stack of letters on the dark leather
ottoman. She counts the envelopes -- 21 letters have arrived within
the four days after her husband's impromptu nationally televised press
conference.
His older children, girls ages 10, 12 and 13, have read every letter
that's arrived, Tsarni said.
`Their Lives'
`I made them read them -- these letters -- so they understand who they
live among,' he said of the spirit of generosity reflected in the
mail. `I said, `One day we'll respond to each of these letters.''
His children, he said, `are going to live with this for their lives.'
Tsarni believes he will have an opportunity at some point to speak
with the surviving nephew, Dzhokhar, facing federal changes that could
result in the death penalty if convicted.
`When I have the chance to meet with Dzhokhar, I will show him these
letters,' Tsarni said. `All of them.'
To contact the reporter on this story: Margaret Talev in Washington at
[email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at
[email protected]